The Reel World

Based on a true story. We see those words preceding a lot of films these days. It's almost as if we've started to chronicle our big moments via the cinema. If a story is tragic enough or portrays outstanding bravery or courage, you can expect it to eventually get a feature film. I can almost predict the big films of 2020 or so just by looking at the headlines in 2017. It's become a little overdone for my tastes and can often appear exploitive in nature. These films are often devoid of originality. Of course they are. They're based on something that real life has already written. I've seen bumper stickers that say "God is my co-pilot". I'm waiting for him to get some screenplay credit or a chair in the writer's room. Of course, he'd be expected to start paying dues to the Writer's Guild. There's also the added problem that the audience already knows how the film is going to end. Ron Howard faced the same problem when he directed Apollo 13. He managed to keep us on the edge of our seats anyway. Only the Brave isn't going to keep you on the edge of your seat. But it will sneak up on you. I knew how it was going to end, but that didn't stop director Joseph Kosinski from finding a way to blindside me anyway. It's a trick Houdini would have been proud of. How did he do that? Now, that would be telling.

Eric Marsh (Brolin) is the superintendant of Crew 7 in Prescott, Arizona. They are a team of firefighters, but they aren't the usual "structure" crew. They fight wildfires. It has been Marsh's dream that his team become certified as Hot Shots. The term means that they can actually fight these blazing demons from the front lines. Without the certification they are forced to act as support and work the "back-end" of the fire by digging trenches, clearing debris, and monitoring progress. The town is behind him, from the mayor to the fire chief, Duane Steinbrink (Bridges). If they can pull it off, they will become the first municipal fire crew to earn the distinction. They are currently a couple of men short.

When I first heard about The Snowman, this was a movie that got me excited, that we could possibly have a great thriller to look forward to. At one point Martin Scorsese was attached to direct the film. He eventually backed out of the project, though he is still credited as an executive producer for the film. To step in for the directing duties, Tomas Alfredson got the call, and it’s his involvement that initially got me excited. Back in 2008 Alfredson directed Let the Right One In, which I consider to be one of the greatest horror films to be released in decades. It’s hard for some directors to meet expectations when their first films are such a success. Many may not have heard of Let the Right One In because of it being a foreign film that had a small release in the states, but the remake Let Me In (which he didn’t direct) sure made an impact. Then with the lackluster success of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy I was beginning to wonder if possibly he had only just gotten lucky and that he perhaps wasn’t the success I’d imagine he would be. Now it isn’t fair to place the success or failure of a film upon one person when there are so many others involved in the making of a film, but when it fails, someone has to be blamed.  I come out saying this because The Snowman isn’t just a bad film; it is an epic disaster like nothing I have seen before.

The film was adapted from a bestselling mystery novel by Jo Nesbo. Personally I’ve never read the book, but from what I understand the book was to be the start of a series, which would mean the film was possibly meant to be a springboard for a franchise.  There is no possibility for this to happen, though thankfully we’re in a time where Hollywood has enjoyed rebooting films that don’t need the reboot treatment. Perhaps this story can be given a second chance to succeed. Alfredson has come out and publically announced that perhaps 15% of the script was never even shot due to time and budget constraints.  Is he simply trying to cover his own backside? That is most likely the case, but as I watched this jumbled mess I found myself believing him, because there are simply points in the story that make no sense, and you have to imagine the script, while adapting the book had to already cut away story points.

Action heroes are very much like sports superstars. So much of what they do is tied to their physical ability, and eventually time catches up to them. For sports figures they either try and accept it and go out on top, or they taint their legend by trying to hang on. The same can be said for action heroes, except there is a third alternative. Some action movie actors learn to adapt their material to their current skill level. Clint Eastwood, while not really an action star, was known for physical roles. He found a way to age quite well on screen with films like Unforgiven and Gran Torino. Jackie Chan appears to have learned that lesson, and The Foreigner, while not in the same stratosphere as Clint's last staring efforts, does a good job of redefining the actor and giving him something he can do well going forward. With a different kind of smoke and mirrors than the wirework and stunt choreography of Chan's prime years, this is a film you will find enjoyable and maybe walk away seeing less than you believed you saw.

The film isn't exactly original. You can take any of a dozen Charles Bronson films and fill in some gaps to get the plot of The Foreigner. Jackie Chan plays Quan. He came to England after the Vietnam War and now owns a quiet little restaurant. His daughter ends up a casualty in a terrorist attack by a new generation of the IRA. The loss sends him into a deep depression made worse by the lack of answers to the violent attack. Pierce Brosnan delivers an incredible performance as Liam Hennessy. Liam is a former leader of the IRA who has now found new life and a kind of redemption as an official liaison between the British Government and his former brothers in the movement. His efforts have delivered 19 years of peace that is suddenly threatened by this bold attack. Liam finds himself caught in the middle of the government and his allegiance to his old comrades. It's about to get much worse for Liam. Quan has identified him as the man who can get the names of the people who killed his daughter, and he sets out as a one-man army to "convince" Liam to provide that information. Quan can't get revenge on the men responsible (yet), so he concentrates his efforts on Liam. It turns out Quan once led a not-so-quiet life once and has some pretty serious skills.

Up front I’ll tell you that the movie Happy Death Day has so many twists and turns that you would think you were on a wild ride at Universal Studios.  The fun but deadly storyline is a cross between Scary Movie and Groundhog Day, and the maze of thrills will have you spooked out until the very end. Or what you think is the end, so don’t get up out of your seat until it’s ALL over. Carrying the perfect movie rating, PG-13, the filmmakers sneak in what most teens are looking for without having to have a parent on hand to watch over them.  It’s has some rude stuff woven into the storyline and even some partial nudity that’s nothing more than a rear-end shot.  The shockers are the cool part, with the ugly killer popping in without notice.  Actually, when you feel the stalker is coming, it’s already there.

Enough of that, as the film actually has a good story and even a moral of sorts.  Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) awakens one morning in the dorm bed of Carter Davis (Israel Broussard).  He brought her back to his room after a wild party at her sorority house, Kappa Pi Alpha. Groggy and wondering why she ended up in his room, she gets all upset.

"No one will ever remember that you were here."

Few names ring as powerfully through the halls of legal history as that of Thurgood Marshall. One of the best legal minds of the 20th century, he became the first African-American to be seated on the United States Supreme Court. He participated in landmark decisions both as a lawyer arguing in front of the highest court in the land and as one of its nine justices writing milestone opinions. But the film Marshall isn't really about any of that at all. Sure, there's a postscript that tells us what any reasonably educated person already knew. But the story told here isn't quite ripped from the pages of an American history textbook. It plays out more as if it were ripped directly from the news headlines... in the 1940's. And this struggle for justice and equal protection under the law doesn't happen in the Jim Crowe South. It happens in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It's absolutely not what most of us might have expected, but it might just be a better movie because of it.

“Backslidin’, how do you do? These slippery people gonna see you through.” 

It has been a long while since I have witnessed a pop song’s lyrics fit so poetically into a feature film. “Slippery People” is a track off the groundbreaking Talking Heads album, Speaking in Tongues, released in 1983. Not only does this song fit the plot of American Made within its lyrics (hints of backsliding with a lot of slippery people), but it also represents a specific aesthetic for one of the many years shown throughout the film. Which, by and large, is what American Made does very well: appreciates the nostalgia of the 70’s and 80’s without exaggerating to extremes. More often than not, the “nostalgia aesthetic” very quickly becomes a parody of itself. However, what director Doug Liman offers audiences is bold moves in film form, lightly garnished with relevant nostalgia.

When it comes to ranking the top 10 cool movies of the past five years, Kingsman:The Secret Service would easily make the list.  From the opening sequence to the final credits, the movie was simply a fun ride with so many kick-ass moments. I mean, the fight in the church alone is worth the price of admission. The moment I heard Matthew Vaughn was returning to helm the sequel, I instantly got giddy with excitement. Heck, ever since his first film Layer Cake, the guy has managed to produce a stream of cool films that I’ve enjoyed. It’s when the trailer for the sequel first dropped something didn’t feel right; it still looked like a fun movie, but it just didn’t suck me in like the previous film’s trailer did.  I ignored my doubts, because after all, Vaughn has proven himself  again and again, so when it came time to see the screening for the film, I had forgotten about my doubts and I was just ready to have a good time.

Now that we know how the Kingsman organization works, the film wastes no time throwing Eggsy (Taron Egerton) into the heat of action. We watch Eggsy engage in a fight/car chase as Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” plays in the back of a cab.  It’s a fun and flashy fight  with the camera moving around in impossible angles as the fight literally does some off-the-wall stuff.  It’s great for an intro, but this is what we get hit with again and again as the film goes on, and it quickly loses its flair.

In case you’ve been living beneath a rock and out of contact with any and all social media, this weekend the long-awaited film adaption of Stephen King’s It releases. Some of my friends look at the trailer for the new film and instantly reject what they see; they immediately cling to their memories of how the original mini-series scared them. One thing you’ll hear them all saying is how Tim Curry made such an impact on their lives and to this day gave them reason to fear clowns. While I respect their opinions, when you revisit the film, you can’t help but notice how dated the film is, and really, if you’re over the age of 10, it just isn’t scary. I grew up on reading Stephen King, and as a fan, I’ve always been frustrated that it seems no one could ever get his horror stories right. Sure, there is Misery and Carrie, but there are many more miserable failed attempts of his material.  The Mist (especially the black and white version) is perhaps my favorite adaption of his work, that is to say, up until now.

When the film starts up, those of you familiar with the mini-series will perhaps have a sense of déjà vu at first. Without a doubt our first introduction to Pennywise, the dancing clown, is at first a little off-putting, but if you hang in there, you’re going to be happily terrified by this performance. Bill Skarsgard fills the clown shoes this time around, and there is no doubt a new generation of kids are going to be terrified of clowns because of this performance.  There is nothing friendly in this performance, and after our introduction and we get a glimpse at what he’s capable of doing to children, that’s when the unease sets in, and as an audience member you realize from the start that no one in the film is safe.

Every once in a while a film comes along that not only takes you by surprise but exceeds all expectations and just sticks to you. Last year it was La La Land, and this year for me it is Good Time.  Checking out the trailer after the film began to pick up some buzz on the internet, I thought that it looked good, but nothing about the trailer stood out to me to lead me to believe this was anything special.  But the thing that the trailer just doesn’t seem to capture is the experience. As you often see the tagline “a thrill ride”, this may be the first time in a long time where I feel this generic tagline actually fits, because that is precisely what this film is.  From the moment the film takes off, it doesn’t let up till the closing credits begin.

First off, for all those who see Robert Pattinson in the cast and roll your eyes, let me just say this is the role that will change your opinion of the man.  Since doing the Twilight films Pattinson has done just about all that he can do to leave that role in his past and become something more than a pretty-boy actor. He’s had great roles; one of my favorites was a supporting role in the Aussie thriller The Rover, and early this year he took on the role as a grizzled adventurer in The Lost City of Z. Now we get him as the relentless scumbag bank robber Connie in Good Time. He hasn’t been better, and if this role doesn’t have him as an award contender for best actor, then there is something seriously flawed with the system.

- “It’s my job to keep you out of harm’s way.”

- “I am harm’s way!”